Candy Experiment
by Flames101
Summary: Garcia and Reid have been enlisted by JJ to give a helping hand on Halloween Night. In the process of carrying out their favor, Garcia discovers a little known fact about Reid that she refuses to accept. Garcia/Reid Friendship. PLease R&R!


**A/N:** Hello everyone! This story is in response to Chit Chat Corner's October Challenge. My prompts were Reid/Garcia pairing (friendship, here) and the candy Butterfinger. This is my first time ever writing Reid or Garcia extensively so please forgive me if it's horrible. So, hope you enjoy! Please R&R!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Criminal Minds, Milky Way or Butterfinger.

**Candy Experiment:**

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Penelope Garcia knocked once on the front door of the two storey family home, and waited patiently for an answer. Finally, it opened to reveal a very pink JJ.

"Well, well," Garcia said, smirking. "Aren't you just Pretty in Pink? Aren't you a little too old to be a princess JJ?"

"Shut up, Penelope," JJ replied, laughing. "I had to dress up, Henry wouldn't unless I did. This is all the store had left."

Garcia took in JJ's flowing, bubblegum pink dress and matching sparkly, plastic tiara. She smiled at her friend.

"It suits you," she said simply.

"So does your outfit," JJ replied, now her turn to smirk.

Garcia looked down at her one-shouldered, animal print, cave woman outfit. "What?" Garcia protested.

"Nothing," JJ shrugged. "But don't you think the fake club was a bit much?"

Garcia hefted it onto her shoulder and pushed inside. "Who said its fake? Now where's my little godson? I've got to get a picture before you guys go on his very first ever trick-or-treating trip."

"Will should be bringing him down any—" JJ started, but was cut off the minute Will came down the stairs carrying a three year old Henry.

Garcia took in the sight of father and son and laughed delightedly. "Oh my God!" Garcia exclaimed.

"Hello Penelope," Will greeted in his New Orleans drawl.

"You two are about the most adorable things I've ever seen," Garcia gushed, causing Will to blush.

Henry, seeing his favourite aunt, rushed to her side. "Auntie look, look, I've got a badge see."

She knelt down to have a better look, as the 3 year old pulled at the star shaped sheriff badge pinned to his chest.

"It's just like daddy's," Henry said proudly.

Garcia looked up to see Will's matching badge. Both were dressed as Sheriffs from the old west.

"Are you going to go catch bad guys now?" Garcia played along.

Henry shook his head. "No, I'm going trick-or-treating."

Everyone smiled.

"Come on mommy, let's go," Henry said excitedly. "We got to go trick-or-treating."

"Ok, honey," JJ humoured him. "Go get your bag."

"Wait," Garcia exclaimed. "Picture first."

The little family posed quickly and Garcia flashed her camera phone. Then Henry rushed out.

"I don't even think he knows what trick-or-treating really is," Will mused.

"Oh he'll find out soon enough," Garcia replied. "And then that's all he'll be talking about for a month."

JJ nodded. "So, Reid's in the kitchen getting the candy ready," JJ explained. "Thanks again for coming over to do this. I hate being the only house on the block not giving treats. But Will and I didn't want to miss out on Henry's first Halloween either."

"No problem JJ, that's what godparents are for," Garcia said affectionately. "Now go, I'll see what the genius is up to."

The little family left in a rush, leaving Penelope to wonder what Reid was doing in the kitchen, taking so long.

"Reid, I'm home," she called out in a sing-song voice as she made her way to JJ's kitchen.

There was no answer, which made her even more curious as to what he was doing. Entering the kitchen, she still couldn't get a real clue as to what he was doing.

The bags of candy were partially opened and some of the contents were spilled haphazardly around the kitchen table, some spilling out onto the floor. And in the middle of it all sat Dr. Spencer Reid with a laptop opened up in front of him.

"Reid," Garcia said, attempting to stifle a laugh. "What are you doing?"

"Did you know that the total average monthly sales of candy, confectionary and snack foods of large retail sales goes from 196 million dollars a month to close to 300 million in October alone?" Reid posed the question to her without looking up from the screen.

This time Garcia did laugh. "What are you talking about?"

"Studies are always wondering why the childhood obesity rate is so high. But I think I found the reason."

"Reid, your job was to pour the candy into a bowl and bring it out to the door, not research the cause of childhood obesity," Garcia scoffed.

Reid finally looked up from his screen, giving Garcia a sheepish look. "Oh… oh yeah, I forgot."

Garcia smiled at the boy wonder. "That's ok." She went to the place where JJ kept her big mixing bowls and grabbed one. Coming back to the table, she grabbed the strewn about candy and began to fill the bowl.

"So, no costume?" Garcia wondered out loud.

Reid stood up, gesturing to his pin-stripe, tweed suit. "Yeah, I'm wearing it. I'm the tenth doctor from Doctor Who," he announced proudly. He pulled out a pair of thick rimmed black glasses and put them on. "See?"

Garcia didn't know who Doctor Who was or why he was the tenth doctor, but to her Reid just looked a little fancier then his regular ensembles. But who knew how the inner workings of a genius' mind worked.

"Nice…" she replied slowly. "You like mine."

He took in her very Garcia like outfit and imitated her same response. "Nice…"

She stuck her tongue out at him getting a laugh.

"Ok, lets take these out by the door, kids should be coming soon," Garcia said quickly.

She was about to turn and leave when she spotted a rogue bag of candy tucked under the table.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "These are my absolute favourite!"

"What are?" Reid asked absently, back to statistic surfing on the laptop.

She bent down and grabbed the bag, coming back up with a bag full of Milky Ways.

"These," she said, tearing into the bag. "Here have one."

Reid looked up to see what she was offering. "No thanks, do you know how much sugar is in one of those," he replied.

"Says the man who puts four teaspoons of sugar in his coffee," she scoffed.

"That's different," he replied. "Those have fat too."

"Ah…" Garcia screeched. "Are you telling me you don't eat chocolate? The God's food? Heaven's creation?"

"Whoa Garcia, calm down," Reid said putting his hands up in defence.

"No one should go through life not having a favourite chocolate bar," Garcia protested.

"What about those who are lactose intolerant or allergic?" Reid questioned.

"Except them," Garcia corrected.

"Garcia," Reid began in his fact-filled voice. "Did you know that 43% of—"

She had to cut him off or else she knew her head would explode.

"I have an idea!" she exclaimed.

He frowned at her and then indulged her like she knew he would. "What?"

"JJ's got enough candy here to feed a small town," she explained. "I'm sure she won't mind if we do a little experiment…"

Reid took a look at her evil grin and cringed. "Why do I get the feeling I'm going to be the subject of this little experiment…"

She couldn't help it, the moment called for a mad-scientist, evil filled laugh.

* * *

JJ walked up to her home's door a bit befuddled. Where were the lights? Where were the laughing children, giggling over the candy they just received? What was going on?

"Will, you stay out here with Henry," JJ said sternly. "I'm going to check things out."

Will picked up their son, holding him protectively. "Be careful, chere."

JJ nodded. She climbed the steps and pulled open the screen door. She tried the door knob and found it locked. That was a good sign. But still, where were her friends?

She used her key to unlock the door and stepped inside into darkness. Luckily, she had Henry's little Halloween flashlight; she didn't want to turn on the light, fearing she'd spook someone.

JJ went through the living room first, finding no one. The kitchen was next. Several empty candy bags showed evidence of her friends once being there. But where were they now? Had there been an emergency that they'd had to attend to? She was worried now.

JJ decided to try upstairs next. As she climbed the stairs she began to hear the noise of the TV on in the den. She hadn't left it on. JJ headed towards the entertainment room.

She was quiet and stealthy, never letting on she was there. It was dark up there too, so when she stood in the doorway to look inside, her son's godparents had no idea she was watching.

There was an old horror movie on TV and she could see Reid with his hands covering his eyes.

"Don't be such a baby, Reid," Garcia whispered. But it was clear to JJ from the tremble in her friend's voice, she was terrified as well.

JJ had no idea what was going on, but she intended to find out why her best friends had abandoned their posts.

She hadn't really intended to, but just as the movie began to play threatening music: "dun, dun, dun…" JJ flipped on the lights.

Screams ensued from her two friends, as they frantically looked around for what had just happened.

They stopped their screaming when they laid eyes on a laughing JJ.

"JJ?" Reid said in confusion.

"JJ, oh my God!" Garcia exclaimed, hand on her chest. "Never ever do that again!"

JJ laughed even harder now that she took a good look at them. There were at least a hundred wrappers on the floor around them. Half seemed to be milky ways and half looked to be butterfingers. The smudges on her friend's faces told JJ the rest of the story.

JJ, in between laughs, said, "You've… you've got… chocolate all over… your faces…"

The pair faced each other, cringing at the sight of each other. When Reid reached out and pulled a Milky Way wrapper out of Garcia's red hair, JJ doubled over in a new fit of laughter.

Reid and Garcia turned to her looking sheepish. JJ tried to point in the direction of the stairs. "Downstairs… now…"

The sullen looking pair marched in front of her as she continued to laugh at them all the way down the stairs.

* * *

Garcia glared at the couple as they continued to laugh at her and Reid.

"It's not that funny," Garcia scolded Will and JJ.

"Yeah, stop laughing at us," Reid said sullenly.

Will and JJ looked at them, seemingly having turned serious. Only to start snickering and bursting into a fit of giggles again.

Garcia huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

JJ walked over to the sink pulling two paper towels and wetting them. She came back to the table.

Garcia scrambled to catch the flying wet towel as JJ tossed one to her and one to Reid.

"Clean up your mouths before you tell us to stop laughing," JJ told them, amused.

Garcia wiped her face feeling sheepish once again.

"So," Will said sternly, the smirk betraying his tone. "What happened?"

Reid let out a sigh. "We were getting the candy ready…"

"And then I told Reid my favourite chocolate is Milky Way…"

"I told Garcia I don't eat chocolate…"

"I didn't accept that, so _we_…"

"_She_ decided we do an experiment…"

"So _we_," Garcia emphasized, glaring at her partner in crime. "Took the bags of candy upstairs…"

"She made me try all of them…"

"We found out Reid's favourite chocolate are Butterfingers…"

"But by the time we figured it out we were way too hyper…"

"We would have scared little trick-or-treaters with out hyper-ness…"

"So Garcia said the best way to get rid of our hyper activity was to scare it out of us…"

"And that's when you found us…" Garcia finished.

Garcia and Reid stared at the couple as they seemed to process their fast paced conversation. And then to their dismay the couple burst into even more laughter.

"Only you two…" JJ was saying.

"Morgan and Prentiss next year?" Will was asking his wife.

JJ was nodding. The couple began to leave the kitchen, leaving the godparents to think about what they'd done.

"Henry honey, make sure you hide your candy from Aunt Pen and Uncle Spence," JJ called out.

"Hey, I'd never steal from my godson!" Garcia said indignantly.

Reid put up his hand. "Does he have any butterfingers?"

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Hope you enjoyed this little story. Just wanted to say thanks to **ilovetvalot and tonnie2001969's **for hosting these lovely challenges.

Let me know what you think!


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